Tag Archives: DHA

In this edition of Deceptions in the Food Industry, I’m tackling Omega 3s. If you shop at the grocery store, you know there are thousands of products proclaiming their Omega 3 value, from cereals, crackers, chips, breads, bagels, and pretzels to fish and krill oil, flax and other seed oils, to vitamins and powders.

The latest offender I’ve seen is a bag of Ritz Toasted Chips, at a friend’s house. I think most people know crackers and chips aren’t healthy, but come on…do people really believe this product has Omega 3s?

On the front and back of the package, it says that this product contains “320 mg ALA Omega 3s essential fatty acids per serving from soybean oil”. Not only is soybean oil highly processed and extremely high in Omega 6s, it is also goitrogenic and suppresses thyroid and hormonal function. The Standard American Diet is loaded with Omega 6s, the over-abundance of which are responsible for causing inflammation in the body – weight issues, auto-immune problems, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and so on.

I also found this other product, a “vegetarian” product called Life’s DHA, which is backed by “clinical research” to improve health.

The web site claims it is fish-free and made from “algae cell culture and results in a highly purified DHA oil”. What the heck does that mean? Oh, and it also says it is used in “99% of all infant formulas” on the market, which means it’s full of toxic ingredients and no nutritional value. See my post on infant formulas.

Anything that starts off as natural and ends as a “purified” oil should immediately be suspect. Most oils on the market are far from pure, are highly processed, go through a chemical alkalinization process where a base is added to alter the chemical properties of the substance through heat and become oxidized, and are deodorized to remove any taste or odor issues with the product.

This processing alters the original chemical makeup of the food and renders it devoid of nutrients. And yet, millions and millions of consumers will read the claims on the label (which fails to provide this information) and think to themselves, “sounds good to me!”

There are endless products in the store which will claim to deliver Omega 3 health benefits. The bottom line is, these should be avoided. Real food is the only sure source of valuable, brain and heart supporting Omega 3 essential fatty acids.

Enough of this nonsense already. Get your Omega 3s from real foods with real nutrients, not fake, processed foods in the store with a shelf life of several years, and which after sitting around that long will still look the same.